Ethiopia jails editor whose paper challenged Zenawi

February 1, 2010 4:15 PM ET

New York, February 1, 2010—An Ethiopian judge sentenced a journalist to
prison on Friday in connection with a January 2008 column that criticized Prime
Minister Meles Zenawi’s statements about religious affairs in Ethiopia,
according to local journalists.

Federal
High Court Judge Mohammed Omar sentencedEditor Ezedin Mohamed of the Muslim-oriented
newspaper Al-Quds to one year
in prison. The precise charges were not immediately available but were related
to a January 30, 2008, column that came in response to Zenawi’s interview with The Guardian of London that month, according to CPJ sources.

The Al-Qudscolumn
challenged Zenawi’s characterization of his country as “Orthodox Christian
Ethiopia,” one source said. Mohamed has begun
serving his sentence at Kality Prison outside the capital, Addis Ababa, sources said.

“The jailing of Ezedin Mohamed is another example of Ethiopia’s
intolerance of independent and critical voices,” said CPJ Africa Program
Coordinator Tom Rhodes. “It is high
time for Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to demonstrate his commitment to
democratic values by ending the practice of imprisoning journalists.”

Mohamed is the fifth journalist imprisoned in Ethiopia, which is the
second worst jailer of journalists in Africa,
according to CPJ research. Only Eritrea
jails more.

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November 16, 2016 11:54 PM ET

Nairobi, November 17, 2016--Ethiopia should immediately release all journalists detained amid an intensifying crackdown on the media, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. In recent weeks, Ethiopian authorities have jailed a newspaper editor and detained two members of the award-winning Zone 9 bloggers' collective, which has faced continuous...

Police arrest prominent Ethiopian blogger

October 3, 2016 1:39 PM ET

New York, October 3, 2016 - Ethiopian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release blogger Seyoum Teshome, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. Police arrested Teshome on October 1, according to press accounts and opposition activists....